TOWARDS A BETTER FUTURE FOR THE CONSERVATION OF SABAH’S SUNDA CLOUDED LEOPARD – AND HOW THE MALAYSIAN PALM OIL INDUSTRY IS PLAYING A VITAL ROLE

Foo Yuen Ng, Ruslan Abdullah, Senthilvel Nathan, Kalyana Sundram

Abstract
The Malaysian palm oil industry has been actively involved in the country’s conservation efforts, through MPOC’s Malaysian Palm Oil Wildlife Conservation Fund (MPOWCF). The funding has also enabled MPOC to spearhead numerous conservation initiatives in Sabah since 2008, ranging from the formation and funding of Sabah Wildlife Department’s Wildlife Rescue Unit (WRU), the orangutan population aerial survey, to the establishment of the Bornean Elephant Sanctuary.
In addition to MPOC’s efforts, Malaysian plantation companies are also equally active in these conservation endeavours. For example, Yayasan Sime Darby has contributed RM3.96 million for the research on the Sunda clouded leopard, proboscis monkey and Bornean banteng in Sabah. This funding has enabled the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) and Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) to conduct a detailed research on the Sunda clouded leopard, which led to the organisation of the Sunda clouded leopard conservation workshop in mid-June 2017. Yayasan Sime Darby has also funded a conservation project on the proboscis monkey in Sabah, which led to the drafting of the State Action Plan for the Proboscis Monkey.